South Korea indicts former President Yoon on power abuse, questions Cabinet minister

SEOUL(South Korea): A day after South Korea’s former President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on additional charges of abuse of power over his declaration of martial law last December, authorities on Sunday questioned the country’s Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho.

State news agency Yonhap reported that Kim was summoned to the special counsel’s office inside the Seoul High Prosecutors Office in southern Seoul to be questioned as a witness in the case involving Yoon’s failed attempt to impose martial law.

The minister was one of five Cabinet members, including then Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, called to the presidential office on Dec. 3, shortly before Yoon declared martial law, it said.

He has previously testified that he sought to persuade the then president to refrain from issuing the decree, citing its potential damage to the economy and South Korea-US relations.

On Saturday, a special counsel team investigating Yoon said the former president is accused of violating the voting rights of Cabinet members by summoning only a select few to a meeting where the imposition of martial law was decided.

This marked Yoon’s third indictment with detention following previous ones in January and in March related to his martial law declaration on December 3 and other power abuse charges.

The team led by special counsel Cho Eun-suk said that Yoon is accused of violating the rights of Cabinet members during the martial law deliberation process, retroactively drafting the martial law declaration, ordering the deletion of records from encrypted phones, and other offences.

The indictment came after the team attempted to question Yoon multiple times following his second detention last week, but Yoon declined to appear, Yonhap reported. (ANI)